Grits Halwa with Almond Gelato & Date Syrup

Grits Halwa with Almond Gelato & Date Syrup

Back in kindergarten in Bulgaria (in the commie days), they use to give kids grits halwa as a dessert and we all hated it. It was bland and had the kind of texture children despised. Of course the canteen version does no justice to the real version – rich with nuts, dried fruit, thick syrup and Middle Eastern aromas. Now, grits halwa is coming back – even to higher end restaurants, with new fancy implementations. Like this warm grits halwa with a scoop of a ice cream I had in a restaurant called Oriental Garden in Sofia. This is my reconstruction of it:

Boil the syrup ->

500 ml water

A cup of sugar

A couple of cardamom pods

A stick of cinammon

Several cloves

4-5 tablespoons of raisins

Boil for 7-10 minutes (make sure it doesn’t boil over)

Strain

Keep the raisins

Make the halwa ->

Melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter in a pan

Add a cup or more of wheat grits (instant work too), or as much grits as will absorb the butter

Fry until golden

Add finely chopped nuts of your choosing (pistachios, cashew, almonds, etc.)

Add the reserved raisins from the syrup

Stir 2-3 more minutes

Add a cup of the syrup (careful with the splashing!)

Stir until the liquid is absorbed (add more as needed)

The whole mixture will start to come together in a ball and separate from the walls of the pan.

Put it in a shallow small pan, or in multiple dishes if you want to have individual sized desserts. Let it rest and solidify. If you want to serve it warm, you can later microwave or warm in the oven and add the ice cream scoop on top. I poured date syrup on top, just for extra oomph.

Sorry this isn’t more precise. I didn’t have a recipe to go by myself 🙂

If you don’t want to risk it with my approximate directions, here is something more specific: http://www.giverecipe.com/semolina-halvah/